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Lenoir approves five-year tax grant to support JBS Foods expansion, officials say project will add about 50 jobs
Summary
The Lenoir City Council voted 4–0 to approve a five-year ad-valorem tax grant schedule to support an expansion by JBS Foods that city and company representatives said will involve more than $20 million in investment and immediate hiring of roughly 50 full-time positions.
The Lenoir City Council on March 17 approved a five-year economic development grant to support an expansion by JBS Foods at its Caldwell County site, a project city staff and company representatives said will exceed $20 million in investment and create about 50 new full-time jobs.
Ashley Bowick, the county’s economic development director, told the council that the company expects the total investment in improvements and equipment to “exceed $20 million” and that the city was being asked to provide an annual grant tied to the increase in ad valorem taxes generated by the project. Under the agreement Bowick described, the city would pay 20% of the incremental ad valorem tax in year one, 30% in year two, 40% in year three and 50% in years four and five of the five-year grant period; the company must begin the five-year grant period by 2027 and provide required reporting and documentation to the city.
A representative of JBS, identified in the record as Lottie, said the company “invested over 20 million dollars” and expected investment to reach about $25 million by the end of the work. Lottie said the expansion will “hire up to 50 new positions” from managers to hourly employees and that the company is working toward a second shift and “possibly having another 100 position[s] open” within two years.
Bowick told the council the project had been reviewed and recommended by the Caldwell County Economic Development Advisory Committee (on which the city manager, Scott Hildebrand, sits) and had already been approved by the Caldwell County Board of Commissioners.
Mayor Pro Tem Perkins moved to approve the incentive request agreement as presented; the motion was seconded and carried on a voice vote of 4–0. The council’s minutes record the outcome as a unanimous approval with four affirmative votes.
City officials said staff will work with the company to track investment and tax valuation changes and to confirm when the company elects to begin the five-year grant term. The agreement as described ties the city’s payments to documented increases in assessed real and personal property value at the site and to the company’s reporting to the tax office.
The council also heard brief remarks from other JBS representatives during the public hearing and then moved on to consent and other agenda items.
